Citizen Human
by Sogo
Summary: When the Ghostbusters find themselves standing in the middle of the garage after the battle with Gozer missing three months of memories, they figure it won't be a major issue to sort out. The guys in their beds kind of suggest otherwise.


**I'm not sure exactly when the idea for this struck, but it's something I've always kind of wondered about. A bit of a darker ending than most things I write, but… well, it had to be written.**

 **Citizen Human**

Blackness.

Nothing.

And then…

 _Something_.

 **-0-**

It was blurry at first. The four of them, weaving, staggering slightly, slowly becoming more steady as they exited the basement, into the ground floor of the fire house.

" _What the hell happened?_ "

It was Peter that spoke first, voice wavering slightly, full of the confusion they all felt.

" _I'm not certain,_ " Egon responded, voice shaking at first, but slowly becoming more firm. " _I don't recall anything past returning to the firehouse after Gozer_."

" _The place is too clean_ ," Winston put in. " _It's all… fixed_."

" _The date's wrong_ ," Ray observed, from where he stood by Janine's desk. " _It… it's three months later?_ "

" _Three months?_ " Winston repeated, looking surprised. " _We're missing three months of memories?_ "

" _Obviously something happened,_ " Ray frowned. " _Do you think Janine would know?_ "

" _Most likely,_ " Egon agreed. He massaged the bridge of his nose with a frown, not liking the feeling that he was missing something.

" _This is ridiculous,"_ Peter decided, heading for the stairs. " _It's dark out; I'm going to bed. We can figure this out in the morning._ "

" _In a proton pack?_ " Winston asked.

Peter blinked, as though just realizing he was actually wearing one. " _...Maybe not_." He pulled at the strap on his shoulder. " _Hang on, it won't come off!_ "

The others tried after him, attempting to shrug off the packs they wore, but they weren't budging.

" _Mine either!_ " Ray agreed.

" _None of us,_ " Egon realized, the niggling feeling in the back of his mind growing worse.

Peter looked askance at them, then his pack, then at the stairs. " _Screw it. I'm going to bed. We can still figure this out in the morning._ " That said, he tromped up the stairs. The others exchanged a glance before following.

Only it wasn't so simple.

The four beds were there, as they should have been. The figures already in the beds… should not.

" _Something's not right_ ," Egon warned, as everyone armed their packs and clutched their throwers.

Peter reached a hand out and jabbed at the figure in the closest bed.

The figure mumbled something, moving away.

Peter hissed slightly, and jabbed harder.

"...I _mean it_ , Peter, cut it-" the figure grumbled, rolling over to face them before freezing.

The four busters found themselves freezing as well at the sight of Ray. In the bed. Who was also right next to them.

"Oh, guys?" the other Ray asked, still not moving, eyes fixed on the edge of Peter's thrower as it pointed at him. "I think we've got trouble. Big, _big_ trouble!"

The figures in the other beds sat up, surprised at the outburst, and clearly shocked at the sight, which was just as well-the four were still coming to terms with the fact that there were doppelgangers for all of them, _sleeping in their beds!_

"Can't we talk this over?" the other Ray asked, giving a sheepish smile (which just looked so _wrong_ , because it wasn't _Ray_ , it _wasn't_ , no matter _how_ much it looked like him).

Peter was the first to recover, firing at the other Ray, who was tackled off the bed by the alternate Winston, with a shout of, "Move!"

As the four fired at their duplicates, the other Ray and Winston used the momentum from the dive to quickly reach the fire pole and slide down. The other Peter and Egon were quick to follow, dodging blasts from the packs the whole way.

" _Don't let them get away!_ " Peter hissed, moving to the hole where the pole was installed and firing at the dopplegangers below.

" _What do you think they are?_ " Winston asked, following his lead. " _Ghosts? Demons?_ "

" _Perhaps some sort of shape shifter,_ " Egon offered, before wincing at the sight of their red headed secretary entering the fire house. " _They have a Janine?_ "

" _Don't worry, Egon_ ," Peter assured. " _I'll shoot at the pretty woman so you don't have to._ "

" _Look out!_ " Ray warned, ducking back from the hole momentarily as a proton stream streaked past where his head had been just a moment ago.

" _They've got packs too?_ " Winston demanded. " _That's just not fair!_ "

All four were forced to duck back as a trio of beams hit the ground just beneath them.

" _We have to retreat_ ," Egon declared, his voice tinged with worry.

" _Egon?_ " Peter asked, looking towards the physicist.

Egon, however, was staring at his own hand. " _We have to retreat now. We can regroup. Come up with some sort of plan._ "

" _But-_ " Peter argued, but Winston cut him off.

" _We can get out through the window. They'll come after us, though, so we'll have to move fast._ "

Ray and Egon both nodded in agreement as Winston slid the window open. Peter scowled, but was still the first through it, jumping onto the roof of the neighboring building, where they could then reach the fire escape.

" _We've got to figure this out!_ " Peter hissed as they hit the street, making their getaway on foot. " _What the hell happened?! Any ideas, Egon?_ "

" _A few,_ " Egon agreed slowly.

" _Maybe_ after _we get away from the guys trying to kill us?_ " Ray suggested.

" _I hear that,_ " Winston chimed in.

They didn't stop running until they reached the river, where they found a nearby bridge to hide under, sitting in the shade while they regrouped.

" _Egon?_ " Peter asked immediately.

Egon looked reluctant to answer. " _I do not believe we're human at the moment._ "

" _What?!_ " the other three demanded.

" _There's a chance that ghosts have forced us out of our bodies and into a different form of being,_ " Egon continued, as though they hadn't said anything. " _Or perhaps some spell is at work._ "

" _You mean we're not in our bodies?_ " Peter near shrieked.

" _Think about it, Peter,_ " Ray said thoughtfully. " _We can't remove our packs. We're not sure how the fire house got fixed. And even though you wanted to go to bed, are you really tired? None of us are even winded, despite running all the way down here._ "

" _But…_ " Peter tried to argue. " _But…_ "

" _Sounds like a ghost to me,_ " Winston grimaced. He looked towards Egon. " _You said a few ideas, Egon. You only gave two. There's got to be at least one more._ "

" _Yes, one_ ," Egon allowed. " _It's one I'd prefer not to think about._ "

" _I don't like the sound of that_ ," Winston commented.

" _Me neither,_ " Ray echoed.

" _We'll proceed under the assumption that one of the first two theories is correct,_ " Egon stated, steepling his fingers. " _Regardless of which, it's clear we are currently in possession of some sort of ectoplasmic based body. The streams we shoot aren't positronic, but are made of a destructive ectoplasmic energy. Possibly even derived from_ us _._ "

" _You mean every time we shoot, we're losing some of our selves?_ " Winston clarified. " _That's messed up_."

" _That's why we had to retreat,_ " Egon explained. " _As it stands, we wouldn't have enough power to win in a battle against a fully charged proton pack._ "

" _These jerks are using our own equipment against us!_ " Peter snarled.

" _We'll have to be careful,_ " Ray realized. " _As long as we're stuck like this, their equipment can affect us. If we don't watch out, we could end up in the containment unit._ "

It was a sobering thought, one that brought Peter and Winston up short, but Egon was already nodding.

" _Precisely, Ray. As of right now, I can think of only two methods to get us in a position of power._ " He held up a finger. " _First, we could separate them from their equipment. It would give us enough time to figure out exactly what's happened to us, and reverse it._ " He held up a second finger. " _Second, we could gain access to the containment unit, which would give us access to more ectoplasmic energy and therefore, more strength to take them on._ "

There was a pause as everyone considered.

" _The two aren't mutually exclusive,_ " Winston said at length.

" _But if we try for that, we'll have to take them on at the firehouse, where they're no doubt at their strongest,_ " Ray argued.

" _Since when has that ever stopped us?_ " Peter asked. " _Let's do this thing!_ "

He made to stand up, but Egon stopped him. " _No. Not right away. We wait, first. Gather more strength. Let them think they've chased us away. We'll have to strike when they're least expecting if we want to have any chance of success._ "

" _Agh, I_ hate _waiting!_ " Peter complained, but he did sit back down and allow himself to be drawn into the planning session.

 **-0-**

Two weeks passed.

It was a very good thing that they didn't seem to need food or sleep at the moment, instead using their time to seek out points of heavy concentration of PKE. They seemed to be able to draw energy from them, and it was a thing they took full advantage off.

Not a lot was said, during that time. Not a lot needed to be said. They had a plan, and they were going to go through with it.

And yet, Egon could often be seen staring at his own reflection, in mirrors, windows, any reflective surface, with an oddly unreadable expression on his face.

" _Contemplating being a ghost?_ " Ray finally ribbed him lightly, not long before they meant to put their plan into action.

" _No._ " Egon said shortly, before relenting. " _Well, perhaps._ "

" _What are you looking at, then?_ " Ray questioned.

" _The uniforms,_ " Egon answered slowly. Almost unconsciously, his hand reached up to brush along the embroidered _SPENGLER_ that rested on the nametag.

" _What? What about them?_ " Ray asked, frowning.

" _Just… nothing,_ " Egon finally said, turning from the reflection. " _It's nothing._ "

" _Are you worried about the plan?_ " Ray pressed. " _Don't. You know the Ghostbusters always pull through._ "

" _Yes,_ " Egon agreed, expression still unreadable. " _That's what I'm afraid of._ "

There was a long moment of silence between the two.

" _Egon…?_ " Ray asked slowly, his face turning pale. Or, well, as well as it could in their current forms. " _You don't… There's no_ way… _We…?_ "

Egon didn't answer for another moment, just turning away from him. " _There's marshmallow on your suit, Ray._ "

Ray froze. _No._ It _couldn't_ be. _They_ couldn't be- " _How long have you…?_ "

" _Since the start, really. Curious, isn't it, that none of us could figure out how we'd gotten there, or where the time had gone? And that none of us mentioned the marshmallow. We all have it, Ray, all of us._ "

Now that he said it, Ray could see it, the marshmallow crusting along Egon's breast pocket and arms. " _How could we not…? Egon, it_ can't _be!_ "

" _I don't want to entertain the possibility either, but the fact is, it's more likely to be true than either of the other suggestions. I just can't… I can't seem to quite bring myself to accept it, though._ "

" _You haven't told the others,_ " Ray said. It wasn't a question, but Egon shook his head anyways.

" _No. It's… difficult to contemplate. And does it really change anything in the end?_ "

Ray thought a moment, then shook his head. " _No. As long as they're around, we're all in danger. And even if it is true, they'll listen to us when we have_ them _trapped, won't they? They'll have to!_ "

" _Yes,_ " Egon agreed. " _It's the only logical course of action. The only way we_ can _proceed._ "

Ray swallowed. Egon was right. If he was right, there was nothing they could do.

 **-0-**

The first phase went well. They waited until the four doppelgangers were on a bust to make their move.

It was when they had split up that the four closed in. Winston suggested they attack from the rooftops, gaining the height advantage. With a practiced ease, the four slipped onto the roof and waited.

Peter was the first to move. His double had split from the group and headed down an alley, shouting for the ghost they'd been chasing to come out. Peter raised his thrower, took careful aim, and fired.

The double on the ground only just dodged it by diving forward.

"Hey! Who's the wise guy?!" the man demanded.

Peter bit back a snarl. " _My name,_ " he said clearly, " _is Dr. Peter Venkman._ "

"No way!" the man shouted back. " _I'm_ Dr. Peter Venkman, got that?! This town's only big enough for one Peter Venkman!"

Peter aimed his thrower again. " _I agree. So one of us must go._ " He fired a second time, causing the doppelganger to fall to the side to avoid the blast that smashed into the wall behind him with a yelp. Peter grit his teeth as he attempted again to hit the man, who finally made it to a position to fire back.

The two streams hit each other dead on, the equal and opposite forces cancelling each other out explosively. Peter was forced to duck back after a second, not willing to get into an extended stream battle at the moment, not when he had a limited amount of energy to spare. When he risked glimpsing over the edge of the building again a moment later, when the echoes from the explosion had died down, he wasn't entirely surprised to find the man missing.

Peter bit back a curse and spun on his heel to go find the others.

Two blocks away, Egon and Winston moved together as the pair of men beneath them finished pulling a small, one eyed ghost into a trap. Egon nodded to Winston, who let loose a shot (after the ghost had been captured, of course, they weren't about to let one go roaming free, even if it would have increased the likelihood of their success).

Winston's double on the ground only just evaded it. "What was that?" he cried.

Winston's eyes narrowed. " _Your destiny_ ," he called back.

Next to him, Egon stood firm. " _Surrender. It is the only logical thing to do_."

As both men below seemed more in shock than anything else, and Winston's double was going for his thrower, Egon sent another warning shot that hit the street below. Both dived to the side, just as the Ecto-1 came driving up.

"Get in!" Peter's doppelganger shouted, and the two hurriedly enter the vehicle. There was no hesitation before the car went careening off.

" _Looks like Peter lost his double_ ," Winston commented, watching them drive off.

" _Not surprising_ ," Egon agreed, " _though disappointing. I believe my double may have actually listened had we had a few more minutes._ "

" _We'll get another shot soon enough_ ," Winston assured as Peter came up behind them, having jumped over the rooftops to get to them.

" _Hey, guys, I lost him_ ," Peter greeted shortly. " _But I bet you anything they're headed back to the fire house to regroup. ...Where's Ray?_ "

The other two exchanged a long glance.

 **-0-**

As it turned out, Ray's double hadn't been the least interested in talking, and Ray had soon found himself chasing the red head down the street. He shouted, " _Wait!_ " a few times, but the doppelganger hadn't seemed very inclined to listen.

So he had sort of resorted to taking pot shots at the man, hoping to trip him up.

That wasn't working well either.

It was working even less well when the Ecto-1 slowed down beside the double, and a door opened before a hand reached out and yanked him in. With a sigh, Ray slowed to a stop as the Ecto drove off.

A few minutes later, he was joined by the others.

" _No luck?_ " Egon asked.

" _No_ ," Ray agreed.

Peter snorted. " _I don't know why you two want to talk to them so badly. We should just blast the suckers._ "

" _I already told you, Peter, they could know what happened to us,_ " Egon reminded. " _If we could just communicate, maybe we could find a peaceful solution._ "

" _Or we could tie 'em up and_ make _them tell us_ ," Peter retorted.

Winston just shook his head. " _It doesn't matter right now. We've got to get to the fire house. We have a limited time to put phase two into action._ "

" _Winston is correct,_ " Egon agreed.

Peter toyed with his thrower. " _Then let's go!_ "

 **-0-**

They slipped up silently to the fire house. The sky had darkened by the time they got there, but a light burned on the far side of the garage, in Peter's "office" and the low murmur of conversation could be heard. It wasn't hard to guess exactly what the topic was.

A silent exchange later, and Winston and Peter were creeping into the building. Winston was looking towards the lockers but Peter's hand on his arm cut him off, instead pointing towards the Ecto-1. Winston peered in the back seat, where four proton packs lay, before shooting an incredulous glance towards Peter. There was no way they were this lucky!

Peter tilted his head towards the car again, and Winston nodded. Moving slowly, they crept towards the front of the car. Peter winced when Winston opened the driver's side door and did the same when he did it on the other side, but clearly their doubles were engrossed in their conversation, and didn't notice.

At least, not until Winston started up the car.

Five heads spun towards them.

"Hey!" Peter's double shouted, shooting to his feet.

"Hey, I just tuned that!" Ray's double cried as the Ecto reversed through the doors of the fire house and pulled rather violently to a stop just around the corner.

The duplicates surged forward furiously, Winston's shouting angrily, before they pulled up short at the sight of two throwers aimed in their direction.

Peter and Winston climbed out quickly, running back to the doors of the fire house, pulling their throwers as they did. Ray and Egon already stood at the doors, an obvious deterrent between the Ghostbuster doppelgangers and their proton packs.

There was a tense moment of stand off, as Peter, Egon, Ray, and Winston stepped forward, the doubles stepping back.

And then the doubles moved, three diving behind Janine's desk, and Peter's running towards a fifth pack leaned up against the lockers.

The four fired, but didn't succeed in doing much other than blasting the top of Janine's desk and scorching the exterior of the lockers.

" _Janine's going to kill us when this is over,_ " Winston observed.

" _I think she'd rather lose a desk than us,_ " Ray pointed out. " _Desks can be replaced._ "

" _You sure she'd prefer that?_ " Peter asked, blasting again at the desk.

" _Pull your shots,_ " Egon snapped. " _We don't have energy to-_ "

He cut himself off when Peter's double rose, thrower in hand, and fired a shot at them. He quickly fired back, hitting the stream in mid air. The stalemate continued for a moment before the duplicate Peter ducked back down behind the desk.

Egon staggered slightly as he cut the stream. " _Waste_ ," he finished weakly. " _We don't have energy to waste_."

" _Agh, they're planning something,_ " Peter complained, " _I know it!_ "

Janine raised the lamp that lay next to her, and Winston, their best shot, quickly blasted it out of her hands, careful not to hit her.

" _I'm not sure that was aimed at us,_ " Ray commented, catching the woman's furious glare at someone behind the desk, in front of where she hid behind the filing cabinet.

" _This is ridiculous,_ " Egon decided. " _Advance. Slowly. We'll force them out._ "

They had only taken a few steps forward, however, when something completely unexpected occurred.

A ghost.

A ghost in the fire house.

A _very familiar_ ghost, _in the FIRE HOUSE_.

The green ghost that three of them had met before rose from behind the desk and went shooting towards them. Peter stumbled backwards in surprise, before furiously firing upon it. " _That's the one! That's the one that slimed me at the hotel!_ "

" _What's it doing here?_ " Winston asked, following Peter's lead in firing upon it.

" _I'm not sure, but if these guys have a ghost with them, it has to decrease the likelihood of option three, doesn't it, Egon?_ " Ray asked, glancing at him.

Egon didn't respond for a moment, before he said slowly, " _Perhaps._ "

" _What's option three?_ " Peter asked.

" _Nothing,_ " Egon and Ray said quickly.

Peter looked about to question them, but then the little ghost blew a raspberry, and his attention was successfully diverted.

With a sigh, as Peter was obviously not going to let up on his vendetta against the ghost until it was gone, Ray and Egon joined the fight, Ray more so than Egon, who was firing in only very short bursts and choosing his shots carefully.

And the others soon found why. Winston and Ray quickly found themselves following Egon's lead as their energy faded, though Peter seemed too focused on the ghost to realize. Finally, he managed a hit to the ghost's tail, sending it bouncing around the garage, to finally smash into the duplicate Peter.

" _Got him_ ," Peter said smugly, before staggering slightly as the energy drain hit him. " _...Oh_."

" _Yes, 'Oh',_ " Egon nearly snapped back, but his voice was too tired to really hold any bite.

The four focused on where the doubles stood, having risen to cheer the ghost on as it distracted them. Forcing a strong face on, they moved forward again and raised their throwers…

And nothing.

Their energy was gone.

They'd _failed._

And then Peter's double rose from where he'd fallen, the small ghost hovering next to him and shooting them all a nasty glare.

"You zapped my little buddy!" the man snarled, thrower coming up.

The four had time for a moment of panic before they were blasted backwards, out of the fire house and onto the street.

They pushed themselves up weakly, even as the four duplicates pulled their equipment from the Ecto-1 and took aim.

"Say good night, fellas," Ray's double said smugly. "Because the _real_ Ghostbusters are here to stay."

There was a moment of comprehension, of being unable to dodge as the beams fired, and then-

 _Pain._

Peter could feel himself screaming, but it was almost distant, as all he could focus on was the sheer agony of being caught by the streams. Some part of him recognized that the others were screaming as well, but there was no time to focus on that, no _ability_ to focus on that as the world fell away, and-

 _White._

 _Blackness._

 _Nothing._

Fin

 **So, for clarification's sake, this story does take place during the RGB episode "Citizen Ghost". And it's told from the point of view of the "Anti" Ghostbusters. Truth be told, as I was watching, all I could think was, "Holy crap, the Ghostbusters would react in the exact same way as their ghostly counterparts". And Peter actually did like, the** _ **exact same thing**_ **in the episode "Flipside". Which led to this little brain child.**

 **The reason they don't realize that they're ghosts is that they** _ **can't**_ **. Egon starts to slowly put it together only because of the uniforms, and he realizes that they shouldn't be wearing them, as he told them all to get rid of them. Ray doesn't realize at all until Egon points out the marshmallow, which he puts together with Gozer, the lack of memories and the difference in uniforms. Neither of them really want to dwell on the fact that they're most likely psychokinetic imprints and just sort of refuse to acknowledge the fact. Winston and Peter have no idea. They're just mad someone's trying to take their places (so they think).**

 **I think I have officially disturbed myself. You're welcome.**

 **If there's interest, I may be interested in writing a follow up AU one shot with a happier ending. Mostly because I hate sad ones. But this one kind of needed it. Anyways, please read and review!**


End file.
